Yahoo News Dolph Lundgren Responds to Claims He Hospitalised Stallone During 'Rocky IV’
As the underdog fighter Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone has taken his share of punches—but none harder than from Dolph Lundgren, who played his nemesis Ivan Drago in the 1985 boxing sequel Rocky IV. In November 2021, while promoting his new director's cut of the movie, Stallone stated that he ended up in the ICU after Lundgren punched him in the chest during their climactic fight scene.
Or at least, that's how he tells it. However, when asked about whether or not it really happened while answering a series of fan questions in a recent interview with the Guardian, Lundgren claimed to have no recollection of the incident.
"I don’t know," he said. "[Stallone] keeps talking about it, so maybe he’s right. He did go to the hospital, but I don’t know whether it was my punches or the fact that he was so overworked as the director, actor and writer. We shot those 15 rounds over two or three weeks, eight or 12 hours a day, so you’re throwing thousands of punches. If you don’t connect, it looks a bit fake, but it doesn’t mean you want to hurt the other guy. But there were no hard feelings."
He went on to explain that stand-ins and stunt doubles were rarely used, and that he has performed the majority of his own stunts and fight scenes—but that this has changed in more recent years. (continued below)
"Back in the day, you had to do it all yourself: Rocky IV, The Punisher, Masters of the Universe, all the Expendables," he said. "I’ve jumped from a motorcycle to a truck; dangerous things I would never do now. Staying physically fit over the years has been nice. There aren’t many actors who can stay physically fit for a long time. Part of the game is trying to look fit, at least."
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